  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: Melissa is fashionably late!  
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Writing.Com is full of many wonderful things to read. Not only that, but Writing.Com is full of many things to keep you busy! Through this newsletter, you can find a myriad of:
 Contests
Auctions
Raffles
Groups
Crosswords
Mad Libs
Forums
In & Outs
Survey
Polls
Campfire Creatives
cNotes
Quizzes
Word Searches
Interactive Stories
This time around, the Contest & Activities newsletter will discuss raffles.
Are you ready to get involved? I am! |
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Raffle Me This!
Writing.Com is an ever-evolving community. We are constantly coming up with new ways to raise Gift Points for charity groups, contests, and our own upgrades. We've held fee-based contests, we've held auctions, we've sold signatures and cNotes, and we've held raffles. Exactly what is required to organize, run, and hold a raffle? That is the question I'm going to address this week.
 Way to organize!
Organizing a raffle is not an easy feat. Do you offer physical prizes, or Gift Point prizes? How much do you charge for a ticket? How many tickets are you going to sell? How are you going to choose a winner? Will you choose more than one winner? These are all questions you need to answer before you open the raffle to the public. You want to have as many rules as possible ironed out in advance, so that you don't have to make arbitrary rule changes in the middle of executing your idea.
 Physical prizes vs. Gift Point prizes
Asking friends or group members to donate items for prizes (an awardicon, a merit badge, reviews, a custom-made signature or offline prizes that require shipping) will enable for multiple drawings, thus making the chances of winning something higher. Tickets will probably sell faster, in this case, because everybody likes a good chance of winning. In this case, if you're using the Gift Points to fund your own upgrade, I would offer a portion of the proceeds to each person who donated, as a courtesy and thank you for their assistance.
When offering Gift Point prizes, you can either set up a single prize, where the winner gets a certain amount of the GPs raised by the raffle ticket sales, or you can split the GPs up for multiple drawings. This will enable more winners, but lessen the prize value. Most raffles have a single payout, where the winner receives around 50% of the GPs raised as a result of the ticket sales. In most cases, the higher the prize available, the better the ticket sales.
What's a ticket worth?
The value of your ticket should be directly proportionate to the value of the prizes offered. If you have several items that could cost the donator a lot, price the tickets higher, while still making it possible for your potential ticket purchaser to be able to afford tickets and feel like they're getting a good deal if they win the drawing. If you have a $50 Amazon gift card in the pot, asking 5,000 GPs or even 50,000 GPs for a ticket is more than reasonable, since the cash value of the GPs is far less than the cash value of the prize offered.
If you're offering a portion of the GPs raised as the prize, remember that if you price tickets lower, you're going to have to sell more tickets in order to get a higher payout. I see raffles selling tickets for 100 GPs apiece, that generally sell quite a few tickets. On the inverse, selling tickets for 1,000 GPs apiece makes it sell a little slower, but you have to sell less tickets in order to make your projected goal.
So how many tickets do I have to sell?
In order to answer this question, you need to answer these questions:
How much am I selling each ticket for?
How many Gift Points do I need to raise in this raffle?
General math works to your favor, in this case, because if you divide the amount of your Gift Point goal by the amount of Gift Points you're requiring for each ticket, you have the amount of tickets you need to sell.
On the inverse, you may not want to set a goal of the amount of tickets you'd like to sell for physical prizes. Set a time frame for sales and once that time frame has passed, hold your drawing and announce your winners. You don't have to worry about the amount of Gift Points being output if the prize isn't a portion of the proceeds.
And the winner is...
With the introduction of the virtual dice, announcing a winner has become much easier than it was in the past. As you sell tickets, you can assign each person a set of numbers, depending on how many tickets you sell. When the time for drawing comes, you go to the virtual dice roller, set up your variables, and give the dice a roll. You can choose to do multiple dice at once, or one at a time. Just remember that the virtual dice are not programmed to not repeat numbers, and do not have an option for no repeats, so even if you roll multiple dice at once, you still have the possibility of repeating a number.
(Unfortunately, I couldn't find any article on how to use the virtual dice tool. Otherwise, I would have helped those of you who have never used it out by linking to it here.)
And the other winner is...
Choosing multiple winners works best when you have multiple prizes to offer. This can mean splitting your Gift Point pool between multiple people or if you have multiple prizes, allowing more than one person to win them. I recommend rolling one of the virtual dice at a time, in this case. That way, if you repeat a number, you don't have to decide whether or not to discount the others. It may take longer, but it makes it less quirky for you.
Come one, come all!
You've gotten all of the technicals figured out, so why aren't you selling any tickets? How do you get people to see your raffle, and most of all, how do you get them to participate and help you raise the Gift Points you need? There are a few things you need to consider before you open your doors to the public:
 Does my forum/item look inviting and easy to read?
Are my rules clearly stated and easy to find?
Have I posted a welcoming post if I'm using a forum?
Do I have a way for participants to find out what their ticket numbers are and the current ticket tally?
Are my asking prices for tickets reasonable and do the prizes offer a reasonable payout in relation to the ticket prices?
Once you have all of this taken care of, then you just need to make sure you advertise your raffle appropriately. There are different ways you can advertise:
 Post your item on "Activities @ Writing.Com" . Make sure to include an intriguing description!
Submit your item for this newsletter! One of the editors will take a look and determine if it is something she wants to feature as an editor's pick. You can submit your item via the form at the bottom of any Contest/Activities newsletter or by going to the following link: http://www.writing.com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form
Plug your raffle in scroll. Be careful of posting it too often, though. You're less likely to get willing participants if you're constantly plugging your raffle and not participating in conversation.
Sponsor your raffle via BidClick. This is a great way to get attention, but may be Gift Point costly.
Additionally, you can post the raffle in your signature, your blog or journal, your billboard (if you have one), in your Highlighted Items, or the Group item page (if you're hosting the raffle to raise Gift Points for a group).
Raising the bar...
Once your raffle tickets have been sold and your drawings have been made, you need to make sure that you follow through on the prizes and donations, if you're donating the proceeds to a charity. If others are responsible for providing the prizes, make sure that they follow through as they've promised. This is important, because if you want to hold auctions or raffles in the future, members of Writing.Com will remember how it went previously. If you've done everything you've promised, then you will be able to be successful in the future. If not, then you may find it difficult to sell tickets for future events.
Next month, I'm going to discuss Creative Campfires. Submit your campfires or campfire-related comments to me using the feedback button below! I'd love to see and hear your ideas! |
Raffles Around Writing.Com
Non-raffle picks
(for those not wanting to raffle)
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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In response to my raffle query last month:
Kendra :
Hi Mel, I have a question regarding raffles/lotteris. I enter a fair amount of them, either for myself or anonymously for others. How would you recommend keeping tabs on them to make sure they really award me the tickets after I purchase them? Another question along the same lines, how do most raffle/lottery creators get the word out to their participants that they've chosen a winner, or is it usually just up to us to check back? If so, whats an easy way to keep track of that?
Thanks for any tips!
Hello Kendra!  Thanks for asking this!
It would be nice for raffle/contest owners to contact all entrants of their activity, but realistically it is up to the entrant to keep tabs on its progress. If you have a raffle that has hundreds of ticket owners, you're looking at quite a bit of emailing in order to notify everyone of a drawing. The general rule is to notify winners directly and then post the results in the forum.
While there's no "true" tracking system available for ticket purchases, I generally tend to add the raffle to my favorite places, and then move it to a folder within my favorite places called "Raffles." This way, I can open the folder on occasion and check the progress of any raffles where I may have purchased tickets. Once the raffle is over, I can either stop checking on it or remove it from my favorite places altogether.
I hope that answers your questions!
Ronis brain tumor is gone! :
I only participate in Raffles when they are helping a charities or someone other than the host's upgrade...
Lotteries I like to do too...But do not buy as many with the lotteries...Even if it does not go to anyone...I am trying to get the owner to have a part go to a charity...He just does not know which one to do...so I am trying to help...Thank you...
Unfortunately, many people start a raffle or lottery with the intent of donating the proceeds, and then do not follow through. It is disappointing to Writing.Com in general. The best thing to remember when participating in any activity on Writing.Com is that you are choosing to enter at your own risk!
In response to my "Letter from the Editor" on Quizzes:
debsey:
Thanks for all the great info and links here Melissa, and for taking the time to share them!
Thank you for the wonderful comments! I'm glad that you enjoyed my newsletter featuring how to create a Quiz item!
Lynn McKenzie :
I enjoy quizzes, because they help exercise my brain. Or sometimes they just make me laugh, and I can always use that! 
I enjoy quizzes, too. They are a great way to pass time! Make sure to check out the quiz I featured in this week's picks!
More questions from my query 2 months ago:
alicengoreland
I am some of my friends have had problems with "Writers Cramp". To name those I and my friends have experienced, not receiving a single review, rating or the prizes. Now this will very for time to time, because the person doing the activity changes. But it has happen to more than once and more than to just me. I am sure this is why it has not received a seal of approval ribbon.
However every other thing you have listed is wonderful.
For me contest and activist are what makes WDC stick out and really shine from the other sites on the web.
Thanks for all the hard work that goes into the newsletter.
Hello Alice! Thank you for your response!
While I've never had the experience you're referring to regarding "The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week" , I'm sure that if you contact the judge for that particular topic within a reasonable amount of time following the announcement of winners, you will find it was simply an overlook regarding handing out the prize for the day. If all else fails, you can contact any of the judges for "The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week" (myself included!).
Since the judges all volunteer their time and energy to picking the winner each day, it isn't always possible to review each entry for that day. This is especially the case when there are quite a few entries. Judges aren't required to rate and review each entry, although it is a nice bonus if they do.
I'm sorry that you've experienced trouble with "The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week" . I hope that these problems are taken care of for your future experiences.
patrickstar:
Hello! Great newsletter this month! You gave me a lot of great contests to check out. Thanks to Robert Waltz  for his comment as well -- I'll keep it in mind when setting the opening bids for my next auction.
Now, my question for the contest: What steps should you go through when someone who donates to your auction does not follow through with the donation? The GPs have already been paid, and the winner is eagerly awaiting his item. Now what do I do?
I've mentioned in previous newsletters that Writing.Com members bid on auction items at their own risk. I've never covered the auctioneer's part of this, either. You also accept donations at your own risk. There isn't much, as far as course of action goes, that you can do to make someone follow through with their commitment. You can send this person a barrage of emails, requesting them to follow through with their commitment, but if they don't, then what?
My only suggestion, in this case is, as an auctioneer, you are saying that the donations will be fulfilled. If the person who says he or she is going to do the fulfilling does not, then it is up to you to take care of fulfilling the donation. This is easier to accomplish, of course, if the donation is something like a merit badge, awardicon, or reviews. If the item is something that needs to be physically shipped, you may have more problems coming through with fulfillment of the donation.
In this case, I would explain to the winning bidder that the donator did not follow through as promised, offer to refund the full amount of the bid, and apologize for the inconvenience. I would also never accept donations from the person who did not follow through in future events. If you cannot count on this person to do as promised, it isn't good for business to keep offering items from said person.
Thanks for all of your comments and questions! Do you have anything to suggest or any questions for me regarding Campfire Creative creation and participation? I'd love to hear what you have to say!
Any feedback, in general, is always appreciated!
Until next month, stay active!
Melissa is fashionably late! |
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Contests & Activities: October 18, 2006 Issue [#1325]
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